It is beyond doubt that the commissioning of indigenously designed and constructed Kolkata-class guided missile destroyer - the India Naval Ship (INS) `Chennai` - has given a big boot to the Indian Naval Forces.

The addition of INS Chennai to the Indian Navy’s operations and defence capabilities at the sea has also given a major boost to the country's ship-building prowess.

The commissioning of INS Chennai is significant as it comes at a time when tensions with Pakistan and China run high.

By adding INS Chennai to Indian's defence arsenals, the Navy has also send a strong message to its hostile neighbours.

INS Chennai, which was inducted into the naval fleet by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at a glittering function held in Mumbai.

Manufactured by Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai, INS Chennai is among the largest destroyers constructed in India having a length of 164 meter and displacement of over 7,500 tonne.

The ship is a potent platform capable of undertaking a variety of tasks and missions, spanning the full spectrum of maritime warfare. Armed with supersonic surface to surface `BrahMos` missiles and `Barak-8` long range surface to air missiles, the ship possesses formidable prowess of missile technology.

For defence against enemy missiles, the ship is fitted with `Kavach` chaff decoy system and for defence against enemy torpedoes, it is fitted with `Mareech` torpedo decoy system, both developed indigenously in India.The ship is designed to carry and operate up to two multi-role helicopters.

The ship is propelled by a powerful Combined Gas and Gas (COGAG) propulsion plant, consisting of four reversible gas turbines, which enables it to achieve a top speed of over 30 knots (approximately 55 km per hour).

The ship boasts of a very high level of automation with sophisticated digital networks such as ATM-based integrated Ship Data Network (AISDN), Combat Management System (CMS), Automatic Power Management System (APMS) and Auxilliary Control System (ACS).

The ship`s crest depicts the outline of the iconic Fort Saint George at Chennai in the background, a part of the adjacent beach in front, and a sloop on blue and white waves in the background.The crew of the ship abides by the Sanskrit motto `Shatro Sanharaka` meaning `Vanquisher of Enemies`.

The motto epitomises the warrior spirit and strong resolve of the ship and her crew to prevail and succeed in combat. INS Kolkata, the first ship of the class was commissioned on August 16, 2014, and INS Kochi, the second ship of the class was commissioned on September 30, 2015.

The INS Chennai has an overall length of 164 meters and displacement of over 7,500 tons.

“The INS Chennai, and all Kolkata-class destroyers, are actually an improved version of the Delhi-class of warships. The INS Chennai and other guided missile destroyers under Project 15A help the Indian Navy and the country achieve multiple goals,” says Abhijit Singh, Head of Maritime Policy initiative at Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

Ankur Gupta, Vice President-Aerospace and Defence at Ernst Young India agrees that the learnings from the ship-building programme, especially given the Modi government’s Make in India focus, will go a long way in helping indigenous defence manufacturing.

“This (INS Chennai) is the last of the P-15A guided missile destroyers designed by the Indian Navy and built by MDL. Even though the vessels have been delayed by quite some period of time, the learnings and capability buildup due to the program is valuable,” Ankur Gupta was quoted as saying.

“This experience will now propel the vessels under P-15B whose construction has begun and with higher expectations,” he adds.

though it is a powerful ship , it is only fair to add that it's armament is not yet complete . it still does not have long range surface to air missile barak 8 , which is in final stages of development by israel . also it does not have towed array sonar ( though it has hull mounted sonar ) for detecting submarines as yet and will be added in near future . so it is not fully battle ready . same is case with its other two sister ships .

also the number of barak 8 missiles will be only 32 on the ship when they come . actually most navies prefer 64 missiles to provide extended surface to air missile defence when attacked from air . the surface to surface armamant of 16 brahmos missiles is powerful however .

What do the different classes (e.g. Kolkata-class) and types (e.g. destroyer) of ships mean?

smallest warships are surface to surface missile boats which are small , have small range and have no real defence against either submarines or anti ship missiles . in 1971 they blasted apart karachi harbour , but as of now can be easily destroyed by aircraft carrying anti ship missiles or by submarines in the modern age .

bigger than them are corvettes which are capable of carrying more weapons and are capable of travelling longer distances than missile boats . they have short range anti air missiles and anti submarine weapons like light torpedoes besides surface to surface missiles and short range radar for enemy detection . their weight is around 2 to 3 thousand tonnes .

frigates are even bigger with weight of 4 to 5 thousand tonnes . they have medium range anti air missiles and surface to surface missiles and have medium range radar for enemy detection . they thus have some real defence against missile carrying aircraft and submarines and can be used for blue water missions ie mid sea missions unlike corvettes and missile boats which can be used for only brown water missions ie coastal defence . frigates are also used for protection of aircraft carriers . each aircraft carrier is escorted by 4 to 5 frigates .

destroyers are even bigger with weight of 7000 tonnes and carry long range surface to air missiles , heavy weight torpedoes , long range detection radars , long range surface to surface missiles etc in large numbers . they are capable of mid ocean missions thousands of kilometers away from home territory .

even bigger are cruisers with weight of 8000 tonnes and more . only USA and russia have them . the aegis radar of US cruisers can be used for controlling and guiding upto 300 aircraft . they carry long range cruise missiles like tomahawk that can hit even land targets far away .

class of warship is a number of warships built to a particular design . the same class of warships have same weapons radar etc . for example all destroyers of delhi class have same older generation missiles radar torpedoes engines etc . in contrast the kolkata class destroyers have newer missiles torpedoes radar engine which is same for all kolkata class ships . thus INS kolkata and INS chennai are exactly similar in design and shape and weaponry radar etc . this rule applies to corvettes or frigates too . same class of corvettes will have same engine radar weapons etc .